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Show fSanio Domingo , ; , r f J - j ft'"' i y ' ?r , - -- - . Remains of a Ceiba Tree In Santo Domingo to Which Columbus Moored His Ships. (Prepared hv National Gf-oGraphlc Society. H'UHtiink'ton. t. U.) WNU Service. TIII'J dark, unmarked Santo Domingo Do-mingo harbor into which Columbus' Colum-bus' three diminutive vessels sailed In 1402 soon will be lighted light-ed by a new lighthouse, a memorial to the Great Discoverer. Plans have already been chosen from those submitted sub-mitted by architects representing the United States and several countries of Kurope. Although now modernized, Santo Domingo still retains much of Its early Spanish aspect. "Oldest in the New world" and "First to be established estab-lished by white men in America" are phrases of inevitable recurrence in any descriptive list of the historic buildings and ruins of this ancient city. The early colonists built for the centuries, and many edifices dating from the Sixteenth century are still In use. The ministry of foreign affairs and other departments of the Dominican government occupy the old colonial palace of government a spacious structure that was venerable long before be-fore the first buildings rose at Jamestown, James-town, Va. Surmounting a bluff which commands com-mands the entrance to the Inner harbor har-bor rises the ancient Tower of Homage. Unshaken through the centuries this pioneer outpost of New world conquest con-quest seems to dream of the golden age when it guarded the key city of the far-dung empire of Spain in America. In the tower Is a small barred aperture aper-ture that sometimes Is pointed out as the window of the cell In which Columbus was Imprisoned before being sent back to Spain In chains a statement state-ment that cannot be true, since Columbus' Colum-bus' imprisonment took place in 1500, when the city was situated on the opposite op-posite bank of the Ozania river. The same hurricane that destroyed the home-bound fleet in 1502 so damaged the city that it was decided to rebuild re-build it on the higher western side of the Ozama, the site it now occupies. Houe of the Admiral. Of the buildings now in ruins one of the most interesting Is the castle of Diego Colon or House of the Admiral, Ad-miral, the ancestral home of the Columbus family in America. Its construction con-struction was begun In 1509, when Diego Columbus, second admiral and son of the discoverer, came to Santo Domingo as governor of the colony. The house was occupied by members of the Columbus family until the death of another Diego, great-grandson of the discoverer and last of the direct line of his male descendants. Although the House of the Admiral lias hien allowed to fall into ruins, with its destruction further hastened by the vandalism of treasure-seekers, it historic walls will bear mute testimony testi-mony to its former magnificence. It was to this and other pretentious mansions of the city that the chronicler chron-icler Oviedo referred when in a letter to the king of Spain he said that his Koyal Highness often lodged in palaces far inferior to those of Santo Domingo, and added that he considered the city superior to any in Spain in its location, beauty and arrangement. Fifty years after its founding, Santo Domingo had passed the apex of Its first glory. Interest In the new colony was eclipsed by desire for further fur-ther conquest, and its meteoric rise was almost equaled by the rapidity of Its decline. From a goal, Santo Domingo became a base for expeditions expedi-tions farther westward. Cortez, Pizar-ro Pizar-ro and Ponce de I.eon were only a few of the gentlemen adventurers who sailed out of the mouth of the Ozama with their eyes strained for the glitter of gold on the western horizon. By IHSG the power of Santo Domingo Domin-go had so waned that the capital fell an easy prey to Sir Francis Drake, and a ransom was extorted by methods meth-ods smacking of the torture chamber. Each day proscribed buildings were demolished until about a third of the city lay in ruins. Then the citizens managed to scrape together a going-away going-away present amounting to about $."0.-OOO $."0.-OOO with which Drake took his leave after hanging a few prominent citizens by way of valediction. Of less stern caliber were the warriors war-riors of the Admiral Penn expedition which in IC'ij was sent to the island by Cromwell with the object of gaining gain-ing permanent possession of the colony. col-ony. Landing on the coast west of Santo Domingo city, the English forces were met by determined resistance resist-ance in their advance on the capital and were soon glad to leave Hlspaniola and regain some prestige by seizing the more defenseless colony of Jamaica. "Battle of the Crabs." According to legend, the defenders of Santo Domingo were aided by strange allies, and along the beach near Jaina the site of the traditional "battle of crabs" Is still pointed out The story runs that the invading forces encamped here one night. With their nerves on edge from constant ambuscades and surprise attacks, they mistook the clattering of the large number of land crabs hereabout for the hoof-beats of charging cavalry, and they wers soon retreating pell-melL Between 1730 and 1740 the population popu-lation of the capital fell to about five hundred, but fifty years later It was again riding on one of its high tides of greatness as a Spanish colonial city, only to be overtaken within a decade by another period of adversity. adver-sity. Now, after more than four centuries cen-turies of varying fortunes and despite siege, earthquake, and tropical hurricane, hur-ricane, the brave old city stands defiantly de-fiantly at the mouth of the Ozama a little bewildered, perhaps, as If undecided un-decided whether definitely to capitulate capitu-late to the march of modern progress or wait patiently a little longer for galleons long overdue. In the last thirty years the capital city has spread far beyond the limits of the old town. One with a romantic turn of mind could wish that the streets in the old part of the city had been allowed to retain their original names, but these have nearly all been rechristened In honor of men and dates prominent in the history of the Republic. Of the old names, only the "Street of Isabel the Catholic" remains, and much of Its romance is dispelled by the traffic policemen po-licemen who briskly "shoo" automobiles automo-biles along the narrow thoroughfares. Visitors may hunt a long time for a horse-drawn coche in which to drive about and view the city, but when one of the few left in commission finally is tracked down, they lack the moral courage to charter It for fear of being thought eccentric or worse. It just isn't done any more. Ashes of Columbus There. The chief pride of the Dominicans is their faith that the ashes of Christopher Chris-topher Columbus rest within their cathedral at Santo Domingo. In 1795 Spain, having ceded Santo Domingo to the French, removed what its officials offi-cials believed to be the ashes of the Great Discoverer to Havana. Upon the evacuation of Cuba by Spain in 1S9S, the Spanish government moved the Havana remains to Seville. Spain. But in 1S77, while the Santo Domingo Domin-go cathedral was being remodeled, another vault containing a leaden casket was found. As soon as the casket surface appeared everything was sealed, and in the afternoon the president and his cabinet, the members mem-bers of the diplomatic corps, the bishops and Apostolic delegate, and many others assembled to witness the completion com-pletion of the excavation and the opening of the casket. Outside and inside were found inscriptions in-scriptions which bear alike the name and the titles of Christopher Columbus. Colum-bus. All present, including even the Spanish consul, joined in a notarial affidavit of the circumstances of the opening of the vault and casket and the description of their contents. The late American minister, Thomas C. Dawson, pronounced the evidence complete, and the late American secretary secre-tary of state. Philander C. Knox, on his visit to Santo Domingo in 1912, declared that any impartial court would sustain the "contention that all that is mortal of the Founder of the New World rests within the Cathedral at Santo Domingo. Charles G. Dawes, United States ambassador to Great Britain, while in Santo Domingo in 1929 as the head of a commission to work out a budget system for the Dominican government, made a study of the evidence and reached the same conclusion as Minister Dawson and Secretary Knox. One of the most tragic experiences in the history of Santo Domingo occurred oc-curred in the afternoon of September 3, 19o0, when a hurricane swept over the capital. Outside the walls of the stricken city the devastation was practically prac-tically complete; inside the walls 70 per cent of the buildings were damaged dam-aged and practically all of the 4.000 smaller homes were destroyed. Upwards Up-wards of two thousand people were killed and six thousand were Injured |